Pirates 6 Rockies 5

The Pirates won in a pleasantly surprising manner this afternoon, with Zach Duke putting together a good start save for the three consecutive doubles he allowed in the top of the sixth (again, one inning got him, besides that he was very good). Joe Randa kept driving his trade stock up with another good performance at the plate, going 2-for-4 with 3 ribbies this afternoon. Torres (in an audition?) pitched a solid inning in relief, as did Capps, before Mike Gonzalez took the mound and proved to Jose Mesa that he learned all he knows about closing from him (36 pitches, one run allowed with a 2 run lead, getting the third out on a strike out with the bases load, I'm sure Joey Table was a proud papa today).

We also got a personal audition from Ryan Shealy, who was just called up yesterday as if DL called O'Dowd and said "Hey, can we see him in person before we ship half our pen over there?" Shealy didn't disappoint, going 2-for-5 with 2 doubles, scoring 2 runs and knocking one in. He did whiff for the third out in the ninth with the tying run on third, but I think that probably makes him an even better fit. I tried to post about this earlier (Blogger made my post disappear), but after reading the PG account, as well as Charlie and Rowdy's write-ups about said article discussing our pursuit of Casey, I've come to the conclusion that we have to trade for him. I'm not necessarily saying I think he'll be another Bay or Hafner style late bloomer, but the reason we have to get him is twofold. First off, he's better than our other current option at first next year, which is Sean Casey. Secondly, by taking him we keep the Giants from getting him and we take that possibility off the table and away from them. That means that not only do they have to take Casey, but his value in any trade goes up. The same may or may not go for Craig Wilson. This goes hand in hand with all the paperclip and snowglobe talk yesterday. The Rockies need relief pitching so badly that the Pirates should be able to get Shealy to Pittsburgh for Torres and maybe Marte (that is to say that we should be able to hang on to Gonzo). The Giants need a first baseman, so by narrowing the market for first basemen the price of everything on the market goes up. This is the type of deal that DL has to have enough sense to make if we're going to get better.